


A Meta Moment

by OopsIFangirledAgain



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Future Fic, How Do Tags Work?, Luke and Julie are Engaged y'all, Metafiction, Multi, The Boys Are Alive, There's a lot of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28399638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OopsIFangirledAgain/pseuds/OopsIFangirledAgain
Summary: Opening up Ao3 for the first time in what felt like ages, Julie made a rookie mistake and forgot to go into the Harry Potter fandom first, opting to browse recently published works instead.That’s how Julie found herself face to face with fanfiction...about herself and Luke....All she wanted to do this morning was read some Dramione comfort fic and put one of the movies on in the background goddammit.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AKA: What happens when Julie of Julie and the Phantoms discovered JATP fanfic?
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 31
Kudos: 174





	A Meta Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Wow thank you for even making it as far as opening this up. This is my first fanfic in close to 10yrs (am I too old for this fandom? Yes. Do I care? No; we do what we have to in 2020) so feedback is welcome!
> 
> Anyway, this is just a drabble that popped into my mildly twisted mind and I couldn't shake it because, I mean, the premise is interesting as hell (to me at least)! Hopefully I did it justice. 
> 
> FYI's:  
> Sexual content implied.  
> Alex/Willie/Reggie/Flynn are only mentioned in passing. This is true Jukebox fluff.  
> Aaaand there's a lot of cursing because of who I am as a person.

Julie knows she’s a nerdier fangirl at heart. 

It’s a truth she and Luke and the guys don’t get into too often; they found her at a time that she had receded so far into herself, her true fangirl nature hadn’t been on the surface and wasn’t prevalent until it was too late and they loved each other to much for them to mock her. 

...ok they loved each other too much to mock her mercilessly for it. They obviously gave each other shit about a lot of things. Plus, they each were hapless nerds in their own way. 

However, between how busy the band had been and the fact that the guys didn’t understand the appeal of fanfiction, Julie still waited until days they had off from recording and rehearsing to delve deep into Archive of Our Own and find the drabble, fluff, and occasional smut for whatever fandom she was stanning at the time. 

Luke knew of her reading habits of course; but he barely read anything she recommended unless it was 10k or less. And he had a strict no romance-rule ( _ you’re macho, we get it _ ) so it became part of their relationship. He had his hobbies and ran out for the occasional time with the guys - which ultimately ended with one of them drunk calling her asking for her to come out because they missed her - and she had time to read or spend with Flynn. 

When they started dating everything was about music all the time: writing songs, learning about their own feelings and each others’ in the process, finding the perfect melody, challenging each other vocally. Even their sex life started off intertwined with their music. Writing sessions became makeout sessions, which with time became hook-ups, and it all circled back to a moment of blissful epiphany about how the song should end...and yes sometimes there was overlap but they really tried not to talk about lyrics mid-sex. 

Over the years though, they grew into being fully dynamic people. They grew together. And duh, they’re Julie and the Phantoms; they’re still all about the music. But they’re also a 24yr old engaged couple with semi-normal lives. 

However, after the last year they’ve had, semi-normal was becoming even less than normal. The band had a hit with Bright and had dominated the LA music scene. So much so that Panic! At the Disco remembered them from their gig at the Orpheum back in the day and… 

  
  


...THEY WERE TOURING NATIONALLY BABY. 

Sure they were opening. 

And fine they were one of two opening acts. BUT they had fans! And just released another single! And a music video! And were about to drop an EP! 

When deciding which song would follow Bright as their next single, there’d been a lot of discussion (read: fighting) over what song fit best. They’d tried settling it with arm wrestling but Luke kept winning and then Julie kept trying to get him to pick Edge of Great while he wanted Perfect Harmony and he was compromised by her “stupid cute eyes”. His words, not hers. 

They tried to decide with a darts competition but Julie had coincidentally baked her famous pot brownies and...they’re skills were compromised. Julie technically won but the boys were babies and insisted it didn’t count. 

They tried to have Carlos decide but he was easily bribed by Reggie letting him stay at Reggie & Alex’s place and binge cartoons with no sleep and no green vegetables while Alex was away with Willie for the weekend. 

Flynn was apparently untrustworthy - _cue sputtering and whaaaat how why_? 

They were still trying to determine the winning song when Julie and Luke’s anniversary rolled around and, well, Luke’s song choice now made sense. He proposed after a dinner in their old music studio at her dads with Perfect Harmony playing in the background. 

So yeah he won. Perfect Harmony was their next single and first music video. 

And they say Julie played dirty. 

Being engaged to Luke didn’t change as much as the upcoming tour did honestly. The two of them had practically been married since they were 17 and had been living together since they were 20 - they were good. The tour however? All new territory. It had come with so much paperwork, rehearsals, tech prep and media training for interviews, Julie and the guys were constantly in motion. 

Which is why Julie was forever grateful for lazy days like today. The label had agreed to give them a few days off. Or rather, Luke had argued that they needed a break or would walk out on the tour. Evidently waking up in the middle of the night to find Julie frantically googling home remedies for common bus-born illnesses was a line for him. 

Who said chivalry was dead? 

Alex was actually getting to spend a day at the beach and skatepark with Willie and Reggie was determined to reunite with his great loves: his bed and his kitchen. 

Luke was back at their apartment and said something about squeezing in a workout before coming to stay with her at her dads to help her house sit. She’d almost whined that he was so willing to leave her alone on their first day off post-engagement but then remembered three things: 

  1. She really loved his arms but those arms required maintenance. 
  2. Sweaty Luke was hot. 
  3. She really loved his arms. 



Opening up Ao3 for the first time in what felt like ages, Julie made a rookie mistake and forgot to go into the Harry Potter fandom first, opting to browse recently published works instead. 

That’s how Julie found herself face to face with fanfiction...about herself and Luke. 

Look, she knows people write fics about real people. She read one too many One Direction fanfics throughout middle school and shipped Larry Stylinson with the best of them. She even knew how...detailed some of it could get. She’d heard of  _ Milk  _ (thank god she never read it, she could barely look Brendon and Ryan in the face simply knowing what it was about). 

But this kind of thing only happened to really famous people! People who had dedicated fan accounts on social media. 

Oh wait, Reggie did mention @jatp_reggiestan followed him on instagram the other day. 

But they weren’t have-people-ship-them-irl famous. Far from it. 

Then she remembered the distinctive squeal and flash of a camera when she and Luke came out of the jewelers having finally gotten the ring sized. 

Glancing at the ring in question on her hand, it suddenly felt heavier. As heavy as the realization that this was happening: they were becoming stars. 

Before she could click on the fic in front of her, she opened another tab to find the Perfect Harmony video. She still couldn’t bring herself to watch the video all the way through; it was a compilation of footage of her and Luke cut together with them singing alone in the studio and it was borderline uncomfortably intimate. Knowing all the internet could watch it was a lot. 

Once the ad finished up she immediately paused the video before she could cave to the emotion of the song; she had a mission. 

She scrolled down to the view count and comments and ---

Holy. Shit. 

She knew the song did well. The label was very pleased and told them they made a good choice with the video and that announcing the engagement at the same time was smart. Julie hadn’t loved the way they made it sound like a business decision instead of her life but she figured that was part of what growing up was. 

Letting herself be in love, of course, but knowing that love can’t always be separated from the rest of their lives. They were bandmates in love. They were working musicians in love. They had responsibilities to each other, but being there for Luke unfailingly was as natural as breathing. 

However, now they also had responsibilities to Alex and Reggie. To their families. To their label. To their manager. Now to Panic!, 

In trade the suits got to monetize her relationship - sigh, but fine.

The weight of adulthood faded away as she stared at the Youtube page in front of her. 10 million views. 

The video had only been out for a week but it was over a million views per day.

What. The. Fuck. 

She was scared to read the comments but how could she not. 

Some were innocuous enough:

_ “Like if you love JATP” _

_ “Who else is here the day this came out?” _

_ “I’ve broken the replay button” _

_ “It’s me, I’m the 2 million views” _

_ “Like if you’ve been waiting weeks for this video” _

Others were...specific:

_ “Get you a man that looks at you like Luke looks at Julie” _

_ “Love the love….but where are Alex and Reggie?” _

_ “Julie got her ghost! (I know, I know, he’s a “phantom” but that didn’t rhyme)” _

_ “They are so cute!” _

_ “Can’t believe they’re only just getting engaged. They seem like they’ve been together all their lives” _

_ “Can’t wait for wedding deets!” _

_ “Can’t tell who’s hotter: Luke or Julie” _

And some were just downright mean:

_ “Raise your hand if you’re waiting for Luke to be available again” _

_ “Does anyone else think he loves her more than she loves him?” _

_ “Why does Julie look starstruck looking at her own boyfriend? Relax girl.” _

_ “I don’t wanna name names but, one of them is out of the others’ league” _

_ “Anyone else hate Julie right now?” _

_ “Luke’s so hot” _

Technically the last one wasn’t mean but it didn’t help the oncoming full blown panic attack. 

Surely cute fluffy fanfic about them would make her feel better. 

Three one-shots and a multi-chap story later and Julie was convinced Julie and Luke were living their lives wrong. 

Not only were they far more boring than their fictional counterparts, but maybe...maybe fictional Jukebox (as they were called) were a better couple than she and Luke in real life. 

Fictional Luke was always making such grand romantic gestures and that lined up with Real Luke. The proposal and idea for the music video were a prime example of that. Fictional Julie usually reciprocated or somehow brought herself up to Luke’s level, pulling on movie-esque displays of affection. She’d surprise him with songs or they’d have off-the-page amazing sex. 

Fictional Luke was a lot like Real Luke in personality too. Confident bordering cocky. Cool. Funny. And Fictional Julie...fuck was she like Real Julie? 

Fictional Julie was always more insecure than Fictional Luke and fine that was true. Their fans know about their origin story as a band; about how the guys found her when she was about to quit music. Fictional Julie always had baggage, needed help, and in some fics, was painted as being just a little bit less than Luke. Less good-looking. Less confident. Less driven. Less serious about the band. The only way Fictional Julie ever seemed to hold her own was in talent. 

...yay for one win?

Julie logically knew their fans were mostly girls, teenagers at that. The fics were obviously written by girls crushing on her fiance. Who could blame them? But his perfectness only made the insecurity a little worse. 

Ugh, this was stupid!!! 

All she wanted to do this morning was read some Dramione comfort fic and put one of the movies on in the background goddammit. 

She knew Luke loved her. He wanted to marry her for fucks sake (or is fuck possessive here? Like “fuck’s sake”? Focus, Julie!). Julie could not seriously be worried that their fans had seen some fundamental flaw in her relationship that no one else-- in real life-- had ever seen, right? Everyone who knows them knows they’re perfect together. They said as much when Luke finally proposed.

Still, it couldn’t hurt to keep reading. There had to be some Julie-stanning fanfic writers. 

***

Julie spent the rest of the morning delving into their fandom. 

She’s read some good, some bad, some hilarious, and some dramatic fics. Why did so many people take their band name so literally? The guys as ghosts was a common trend but honestly, she didn’t hate it. 

After a particularly emotional piece about Ghost Luke moving on and Julie growing old without him in her life, but the memory of the band driving her music, she needed a breather. Unable to really abandon the hole she’d dug for herself, Julie made a decision that would get her out of her head but keep her in the fandom: time to read JATP smut. 

That is how Luke finds her later in the afternoon. Curled on the couch with 17 open tabs and a look of concern on her face. 

“Hey babe,” Luke says with a smile as he drops a duffle bag for the rest of their weekend. Ray and Carlos went on a roadtrip to look at colleges so they were starting off their week off with a staycation at her dad’s. 

He’s glistening with sweat and still wearing his rattier muscle tank meaning he hadn’t showered after hitting the gym. Most other days she would suggest that shower be for the both of them but looking at his stupid hot face now, she’d rather not.

She could go an eon without him ever seeing her naked again at this very moment. 

When Julie simply makes a noise of acknowledgement at him, she can all but hear Luke frown. Clearly he expected her to be happier that he was in for their weekend alone together. Knowing him he probably even skipped showering at their place knowing what would be her suggestion now.

“Sorry babe,” Julie said sitting up straighter and smiling at him. 

His grin quickly returns to his face as he takes her in, wearing his sweatshirt, shorts, and the ring. His goofy grin makes her heart skip a beat. Fuck, he’s gorgeous. 

He really was out of her league, wasn’t he? 

Luke comes up to her from behind the couch and leans down to kiss her briefly, the smile not leaving his face for a second. “Whatcha been doing all day?”

He didn’t need to be an inch away from her face to realize her smile stopped being genuine and was a facade. She noticed him clock the minor shifts in her face and now he had a frown on his face that mirrored her feelings. 

Before Julie can even come up with a good answer for him - because honestly what HAD she been doing all day?- Luke reaches over her and snags her laptop. She jumps up to grab it and fails. A last attempt at saving her dignity results in her jumping onto his back (hey a girl has to try) and trying to shut the computer before he can process what he’s reading. Julie feels Luke still beneath her and knows it’s too late. 

Oh boy. 

“Julie? What...just what?” 

She lowers herself to the ground and returns to the couch. This time grabbing a pillow to hug to her chest as well. 

“Our fans are very imaginative?” She says by way of explanation. 

“Oh wow,” Luke says scrolling through the page she was on. Ah yes, she thinks. That’s the one with the ski lift? Or was that the school dance scenario? “Have you read this stuff Jules?”

“Umm, well define ‘read’.”

“Julie.”

“Ok I’ve inhaled it. I’ve gone in pretty deep.”

“And?”

“Well, good news: our fan loves you. Like, have really really high opinions of you.”

“I’m seeing that. They think I’m,” Luke clicks to a new tab and scrolls down. And keeps scrolling, and scrolling, and scrolling. “Very athletic.” 

“Among many other things.” Julie grumbles. 

Now Luke’s a little confused, she could tell. Julie clearly voluntarily got herself into this mental mess; she never meant for Luke to catch her mid-meltdown. She wanted to be all melted and resolidified by the time he got back. 

What time was it even? Had she had water all day? Julie risks a glance at the clock and, yup, she hadn’t moved in over 4 hours. 

And of course, Luke continues to be great and a perfect human, and is ready to fix whatever is wrong without even knowing what it could be. Julie debates trying to play it down and let the issue get dropped but knows the determined boy in front of her won’t let that happen. 

Stupid perfect guy and his stupid love for her. 

He sits down on the coffee table, setting the laptop down next to him, and reaches for Julie’s hands. 

“Ok what’s up?”

It’s not until Julie feels the tension leave her hands as Luke rubs his thumbs over them that she realizes she had physically gone rigid some hours ago. 

“It’s stupid,” Julie sighs. 

Luke just shrugs, “You’re not usually capable of stupidity, but we can agree to disagree for the sake of the moment. I repeat: What’s up?”

Julie exhales for a bit, knowing she just needs to spit it out. 

“Doyoueverfeellikeyou’resettlingforme?”

“No,” Luke says, not missing a beat. 

Julie can’t help how quickly her eyebrows shoot up and Luke just chuckles at her adoringly. 

“Jules, I’ve been hearing you nervously rush your words together like a psycho for the better part of a decade. If I could understand you stammering to a cop the one time you got pulled over for speeding because I made us late for a gig, I can always understand you. Duh,” he fixes her with a look, his tone shifting. “To answer your question though: no. No question. I could never feel like I’m settingling for you. It still feels unreal to me that we’ve made it this far without you waking up one day realizing I’m lowkey the worst.”

Julie opens and closes her mouth a few times, fully at a loss for word. “Huh?” Eloquent, Julie. Good job. 

Now it was Luke’s turn to sigh. He moves from the coffee tables to the couch, shifting Julie around effortlessly so he’s wrapped around her. 

“Before I get started singing your praises, because I am fully prepared to do that but I will not be stopped once I get started, can you explain what happened since I saw you this morning?” He peers down at her expectantly. 

Their new position allows her to look away from him easily so she fixes her sight on the laptop instead. “Our fans just.. Well firstly we have fans and that’s pretty cool,” Julie looks back at him with a weak smile hoping to lighten the mood. When she’s met with nothing but softness in his eyes she just huffs and turns back around. He’s being annoying and emotionally supportive. 

“And our fans have these opinions. They love our music, sure, they even think I’m talented. But, it just kind of feels like the overwhelming majority think you could do better. Or just are better in general. You’re better looking, a better partner, a better person…”

She feels Luke let out a deep breath before he starts to gently rub her arms reassuringly. 

“Jules...you realize they can't possibly know anything of that, right?” When she opens her mouth to protest he keeps going. “They don’t know anything about me, about you, as people. They don’t know about our thoughts, they don’t know about our feelings unless we wrote them into a song, and they don’t know about our relationship.” 

Even though she’s facing away from him she can’t help but cross her arms defensively. 

“Yes, those are things that I know.”

Luke’s full on smirking at her stubbornness now, she can feel it on the back of her skull. “And therefore whatever opinions our fans have, or anyone has for that matter, don’t matter to us. They can think what they want.”

Julie just shrugs in response. Dutifully, Luke keeps on going.

“You and I know very well that everyone we know personally thinks you’re the better half of us. I mean, do you really want another recitation of the You Don’t Deserve Her But I’ll Allow This speech Flynn gave us when you showed her the ring? I personally could live without it...she made some convincing arguments for you to leave me.”

“Har har.” 

“I’m serious! Our fans are only fooled by my disarming smile and charm,” Luke says playfully nudging her shoulder. 

“I guess it doesn’t help that right now our fans are mostly—“

“Teenage girls? Exactly, Jules!” Luke’s excitement that he’s successfully cheering her up only deepens the pit in her stomach. 

“The thing is, I don’t know if this will ever get better or worse with time you know? I hope our fan base keeps growing but I don’t know if our relationship can handle that.”

At the last part Luke caves and just pulls her into his lap but twists them in a way that she can’t keep avoiding his eyes.

“Jules now I have to agree that you are being stupid.”

“No, but—“

“No, Julie Molina,” Luke pushes a curl behind her ear leaving his hand on her cheek, “I love you more than I love this band.”

The weight of his statement hangs in the air. Julie knew that in her heart but she didn’t really think it would ever be said. 

Their relationship began only because of this band. Julie was an addition to Sunset Curve. Sure they rebranded and she and Luke had grown as people and musicians and a couple but the Phantoms were his life.

Wow.

She doesn’t realize she’s crying until Luke wipes a tear from her eye. “No contest, Jules. So yeah I hope our fans keep growing. But if they keep making you feel small, we’ll have to just stop having fans because I can’t stand seeing you feel this way.”

In the space of a heartbeat Julie’s thrown her arms around his neck and wraps Luke in a hug hoping to convey the words she can’t form as she squeezes him instead.  _ I love you I love you I love you. _

They stay like that for a while before Luke decides they might as well lay down. 

Staring into his eyes as they lay face to face, Julie nuzzles his nose. “Well fuck. You know I’ll never let you end this band, right? I love you too much to do that to you.”

He just nods in response. “So if this keeps going south, I’ll just have to put on my big girl pants and deal…or get rid of the internet somehow. But honestly now I want to keep hyping you up to our fans because you deserve it. I want them to love you like I love you. They need to know the depths of your greatness.” 

“Hopefully you don’t want them to love me exactly like you love me,” Luke says with a smirk. “Because I’m all yours, babe.”

He nods to the laptop with his head and asks, “But it seems they already get that. Did anyone even right any of that sex-stuff with me and anyone else?”

“Aaaactually…”

Luke’s eyes go wide, “SERIOUSLY?”

He sits up and leans over to grab the still open laptop and frantically flips through tabs, his face growing wearier by the second.

“Oh man, me and Reg? Me and Alex? Fuck—me, Reg, AND Alex?”

Julie can’t hide the amusement from her voice. “If it helps there’s also ones with me and Reg, and me and Alex, and me, Reg, and Alex.”

He fake glares at her. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

She shrugs, still laying down.

The hilarity of all the writings hits Luke after the initial outrage passes. 

“At least our fans are creative, right?” He looks down at her to find her grimacing in response.

“That was another thing actually,” she pulls him back down to the laying position so she can hug him to let him know she’s still fine, “reading some of it made me jealous of our fictional selves. Like they get to live some better lives.”

“....Julie if this is your way of telling me you want a three-way with Reggie and Alex I’m gonna need a drink or a sedative or something.”

She laughs as she buries her head in his chest. 

“No, you loser. I mean Fictional Julie and Fictional Luke are cuter than us! That’s half the reason I was upset in the first place; Fictional Julie has the time to be a much better girlfriend. And vice versa honestly.”

She looks up to find Luke looking thoughtful.

“Huh ok I get why it might seem that way to you but you realize we still win, right?”

“‘Splain.”

He wraps his arms around her and tugs her up so her face is no longer level with his neck and locks her with the softest gaze she’s seen yet.

“Here’s how I see it. Yes, Fictional Luke and Julie might have some cuter moments, for the sake of arguing let’s even say Fictional Julie is a better girlfriend though I don’t see how that’s possible, but we still win. No one can fully imagine the depths to which I love you, Julie. You can’t write a love like ours. They could have the most romantic moments on the page, but they end right there on the page. No writer can capture what it’s like to sustain a love like ours.” 

He pauses to caress her face gently, visibly gulping. 

Julie can tell he’s struggling and while she can’t tell if it’s from the depths of his emotions or because he’s just over this moment, but she can’t bring herself to break the spell he’s cast on her. 

“And fine, having a real-life relationship means that not every moment we have is filled with excitement and passion. But I’d rather have a real relationship - our real relationship - any day. We have real life love: we don’t get to, I don’t know, fuck on a ski lift but you did get to come home to me after a late night at the library in college and wake me up for some impromptu stress relief,” he says with a smirk. “We can’t jet around the globe on a whim but those writers don’t know that the views of the Eiffel Tower have nothing on the view of you figuring out how to file our taxes wearing nothing but my t-shirt and your glasses.”

Julie’s getting the trend of what he’s going for here and can’t help but chime in with a soft smile. 

“We don’t get to fight ghosts or crime or monsters but we do get to fight hangovers together. Sure the latter comes with some snipping about making too much noise or how the smell of your eggs made me want to puke but the night before was worth it.”

“Ugh don’t get me started on the time Carlos invited himself over in the morning on New Year’s Day. I almost threw up on him onsight just from all the noise he made knocking on the damn door,” Luke says with an eye roll. 

Julie playfully nudges him but pulls him back in before he can move even an inch away from her. She starts fiddling with his necklace affectionately. She knows he likes it but it also gives her a reason to break the eye contact for a bit. Those hazels were making her head spin, honest to god. 

“We don’t get the dramatic declarations of love in the rain but I distinctly remember ugly crying on you after that fight with my mom. You handed me water and held my snot-covered tissues and I told you I loved you after you fell asleep with my head in your lap,” he says softly.

Julie smiles to herself at that last part because she still heard him say it that night - she just never had the heart to tell him. It was the first time he said those words; he said them properly the next day and she can still remember how excited she was to say it back. 

“Well geez, Luke. Now I know why you don’t ever bother to entertain my attempts to get you to read any romance. You’re too much of a romantic yourself,” she jokes. 

Luke gently lifts her chin to pull her eyes away from the chain she was still fiddling with and back up to his. 

“That’s mostly true. But honestly, I never got into fiction because my reality was much better.”

***

And because real life can’t end on climactic moments, their intense cuddle-filled staredown ended abruptly when Julie’s stomach grumbled. A very concerned Luke asked his fiance what she last ate. 

When her answer was to simply ask him what they ate for dinner last night he rolled himself off the couch and started to walk to the kitchen. 

At the last second he turned back around and grabbed the laptop, trying to find the one fic that had caught his attention, bringing it back with him to the kitchen. He had a woman to feed and some notes to take. 

**Author's Note:**

> Do we hate it? Do we like it? Should I leave? 
> 
> Thanks for reading if you made it this far!! Comments and feedback sustain me.


End file.
